Square Enix is continuing to support Babylon’s Fall with a second season of content, despite the fact barely anyone is playing it.
Game directors Kenji Saito and Takahisa Sugiyama were interviewed and discussed difficulties with developing a live service game.
“It is our first time developing and amending content after release as part of a live service, so we need to prioritise player feedback above all else. In that sense, it really brings home the realisation that this game is very much a service as well as a standalone product,” said Saito.
“I think that player feedback has influenced us massively in terms of how to improve Babylon’s Fall and make it more fun and exciting to play.”
Sugiyama added: “The reception has had a big influence. For all the issues that are brought to our attention, we have strived to carry out as many emergency fixes and improvements as possible and get them out as early as possible.
“We do understand that these measures are still far from enough and will continue to push on with further fixes and improvements alongside all the new content we will be releasing going forward.”
A number of changes are planned for the game, though as Sugiyama said: “Our first priority is to deliver the exciting play environment that fans are looking for in a hack and slash game. There were a lot of things relating to the repeating play cycle that we only became aware of after actually releasing the game to the public.”
So far, the team has already added new game modes and equipment, as well as made amendments to matchmaking and tweaking the balance of dungeons.
“There are still many areas we have not done enough with yet, and many aspects that will be hard to change unless we focus our efforts, so I feel there is a great deal of room left for us to meet player expectations as we diligently continue to develop and improve the game,” said Sugiyama.
Another element that’s been altered are the visuals. The team chose a distinctive oil painting aesthetic that’s proven controversial with players.
“The team had not managed to do enough testing on the graphics, especially the visibility aspect and how that could create stress for players repeatedly playing an action game over a long period,” said Sugiyama.
“Based on player feedback, we wanted to deliver as many improvements as possible at an early stage and it ultimately worked out that we could get those fixes out at this time.”
The game’s second season is coming very soon, but whether new content is enough to entice players back to the game remains to be seen. According to Metacritic, it’s been absolutely panned.
